Ballmer Not Playing Ball with Apple Products as New Clippers Boss

In a new interview with Reuters this week, former Microsoft boss and new L.A. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is making one thing clear -- his allegiance to Microsoft remains even though his tenure with the tech giant has now ended.

In recent months, Ballmer invested a hearty $2 billion for the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers. And with a financial commitment that large, you can count on the man getting his team to use the mobile devices of his choice.

"Most of the Clippers are on Windows, some of the players and coaches are not," Ballmer is quoted. "And Doc [Rivers] kind of knows that’s a project. It's one of the first things he said to me: 'We are probably going to get rid of these iPads, aren’t we?' And I said, 'Yeah, we probably are.' But I promised we would do it during the off season."

Although there's no hard data to back this up, most industry watchers believe that the majority of professional sports teams current use more iOS devices than Android devices, let alone Windows phones and tablets.

I know he's an ex-Windows exec and all, but really? How can he legally require his players to use different devices than they want? I can see him being able to require it for team use, but is it legal to require things for personal use?

I know he's an ex-Windows exec and all, but really? How can he legally require his players to use different devices than they want?

I think he was talking more about the team-issued tablets that most sports teams now use so that players can view game tape anywhere. There would be no way for him to mandate that his players switch all of their personal devices to windows devices.

If someone was paying me to switch, I wouldn't have a problem with it lol. It's like being sponsored. Pay me millions of dollars to switch and I would gladly. I don't think most people would object to that.

If someone was paying me to switch, I wouldn't have a problem with it lol. It's like being sponsored. Pay me millions of dollars to switch and I would gladly. I don't think most people would object to that.

Makes sense that he is staying loyal to his roots..hard to find people like that these days. I believe from what i have read that Steve is talking about 'team devices' not personal devices. I don't see anything wrong with that at all. The NFL uses SurfacePro's, I see them on every sideline of every team. Does that mean that these guys don't own an iPad or iPhone...NO.